After Then
by essarrkay
Summary: Sequel to my story "Until Now". I would highly recommend you read it first.
1. Chapter 1

It had been three days since Rachel had left LA. Since Quinn had slipped the engagement ring Puck had once given to her, onto Rachel's finger as a promise, after two weeks together and the media questioning Rachel's sexuality. Three days, and she hadn't spoken to Rachel once. No calls, no texts, not even an email.

The first day, Quinn had been patient, or as patient as she could be. Checking her phone every few minutes, but resisting the urge to contact the brunette first since she had promised to call when her plane had landed. She hadn't slept at all that night, and by six am the next morining, she called Santana out of worry that maybe Rachel had been kidnapped. The latina assured her, though, that Rachel was safely asleep in her bed. Quinn had quickly ended the phone call after that, not wanting Santana to hear the sniffle of her nose or the crack in her voice as she fought the tears she could feel coming.

Anger eventually replaced tears, and she vowed not to even try to get in touch with her girlfriend. She was alive and well, sleeping soundly. She had completely broken her promise to call. No way Quinn was going to reach out first.

By ten pm, she had talked herself into breaking that vow. She listened as the phone rang in her ear for thirty eight of the longest seconds of her life. As Rachel's recorded voice came across the voicemail, she once again felt her eyes begin to sting, and hung up quickly before the beep could come.

She tried one last time, sending a text around three am. She typed out three short words, 'I love you'. She pressed send right as the exhaustion from the last few days finally overtook her.

Upon waking up the third morning around eight am, after having nightmares all during her short sleep of different versions of Rachel breaking up with her, she immediately checked her phone. No new messages. No missed calls. Officially, Rachel was completely ignoring her.

As she slowly, almost lethargically, rolled out of bed, she tried to thing of anything else. She focused her mind on putting one foot in front of the other until she reached the kitchen. Every movement, every small motion, felt like it took the effort of climbing a mountain. Without Rachel, motivation for even the most minimal of tasks was hard to come by. She told herself coffee would help, knowing it would be a tiny comfort.

She flicked the button to tutn the coffee pot on after filling it with water and placing the full filter filled with her strongest brew into it. She stood staring impatiently at the pot, silence in the apartment other than the gurgle of water heating up and beginning to drip through the dark ground mocha beans. When she heard the distant sound of the first ring, it took her a moment to realize what the noise was. When the second ring came, she thought surely it was just a figment of her wishful imagination. On the third, she perked her ears up a little more. By the fourth, she was sprinting to her bedroom like she was running for olympic gold.

She was disappointed yet again, however, when she threw herself across her bed to answer her phone on its fifth ring. In her haste, she didn't even look at the caller id before answering and plunging her cell to her ear. When she heard the voice on the other line, her entire body deflated, sinking into the bed while her stomach dropped, and as her heart fell through to the floor beneath.

"Quinn? Quinn, are you there?" She heard the voice ring again in her ear.

"Yes. Sorry, Sarah." She greeted, doing her best to pull herself together quickly. "I'm here." She managed on some sort of auto pilot. "I think we had a bad connection there for a moment."

"It wouldn't surprise me. You know these cell phone companys they charge these outrageous fees, and then..."

"Sarah." She interrupted, not wanting to get lost on the other end of one of her older manager's rants. "You caught me in the middle of breakfast. No offense, but was there a reason you were calling?"

"Oh, well I'm sorry, sugar. Why didn't you just say so?" This made Quinn's palm fly to her forehead. "I was just calling to make sure you were up and at it for your flight in a few hours. Giving you your complimentary wake up call." She laughed out. Even though she wanted to try, Quinn couldn't muster a giggle back, no matter how fake it would have been anyway.

"I'm up. I'm ready. Just having some breakfast before I head to the airport." She assured her, hoping to satisfy her and end the call.

"Excellent. You've got a couple other writers flying out with you. Most everyone else flew out yesterday to do meet and greets and all that good stuff. When you get to New York, everything should be set up to start filming your first episode."

"Sounds great. I'll call you tonight and let you know how everything goes."

"Alrighty. Good luck, kid."

"Thanks. Bye." Quinn hung up the phone before Sarah could say anything else.

After laying her phone on the counter, she grabbed a mug and poured her first cup of coffee. She did need to be leaving soon, but instead of changing clothes or finishing packing, she leaned her back against the counter edge and sipped the warm beverage slowly. She should be eager to go, she thought to herself. Being in NYC in a few hours meant seeing Rachel in a few hours. She was working on her first big break, writing regularly for a hit tv show. As her stomach twisted in nervousness, however, she knew she actually dreaded her soon to be arrival across the country.

Not hearing from Rachel, her texts and calls going unanswered, had left her feeling a sense of dread about when she finally would be face to face with the brunette again. She was bound to get dumped, and that wasn't exactly something one looked forward to. Worse even, she was going to have to pretend like everything was okay for work, not just today, but for the foreseeable future as well. Yep, this was some new form of her living hell.

She glanced at the clock on the stove, letting out a deep breathe as she refilled her mug, this time carrying it to the bedroom with her so she could finish packing her bags. She couldn't put it off any longer.

Rachel stood in her own kitchen, sipping her own mug of coffee, and flipping aimlessly through the newspaper. She knew which section she was looking for, but took her time in finding it, not overly eager to relive last night's events.

When she had gotten back to NYC, she went straight to her manager, as promised. She walked in the door of the small cafe where she was meeting him feeling strong and determined. She could convince him she didn't need to break up with Quinn, that they could just be more discreet with their relationship. She would.

An hour later, however, she exited the cafe with slumped shoulders and the feeling of defeat that came along with them. She couldn't convince him of anything. In fact, he had made her question everything. He was so persistant that her career couldn't survive a relationship like hers and Quinn's, it had left her doubting it as well.

He had even given her a to do list. She was supposed to go out at night, where she usually stayed in. Somewhere photographers would be. She also had a date he assured her was absolutely imperitive to rebuilding her image. A date with her future castmate and love interest in the show.

Which brought her back to this morning, standing in her kitchen with The New York Times on the counter next to her fourth cup of coffee. She took a breath, and flipped over to the gossip section, already knowing some of what she would find.

Thankfuly, there was only one picture. It was taken as she and James left the restaurant where they had had dinner, holding hands as he walked her to the car already waiting for them. That wasn't so bad, she reasoned with herself. So she began reading the article hopefully.

After finishing it, she slammed the paper closed and threw it in the trash aggresively. The picture, she thought, was definitely the best part, and that was saying something. The article not only brought up the recent questions into her sexuality and the "unidentified blonde", but it made her out to be some kind of serial dater. She was nothing of the sort. She had only dated a handful of people her entire life. She was only really dating one person now.

Wasn't she? She had gone on the date with James, even if it had only been for publicity. And she hadn't spoken to Quinn since leaving Los Angeles. She just couldn't bring herself to tell Quinn everything her manager had said, demanded she do. How was she supposed to without making it sound like she was choosing her career over their relationship? She wasn't. She still wanted to be with Quinn, desperately, but to do that, their relatioship would have to become a complete secret. Rachel would have to fake date someone from their show. It was a lot. Cound Quinn handle it? Would she want to? She knew it was cowardly of her, but she couldn't force herself to make that phone call. If Quinn was going to break up with her, she would have to do it to her face.

She knew from the meet and greet before her date yesterday, that Quinn would be in New York today. She was supposed to meet with the writer for her story line tonight after her Funny Girl performances. Little did everyone else know, she had known the writer for almost a decade. Everyone else except for her and Quinn... and one other person, who she had completley forgotten about until she got a reminder right in her face yesterday.

"Bummer about the tabloid artices. It didn't really seem like you guys were exactly open for everyone knowing at the bar last week." Someone said into her ear at the bistro yesterday. Rachel turned around, almost going off immediately before she realized she recognized the soft voice. Avery was standing there smiling in the same flirtatious way she had back at the bar with Puck and Quinn.

"Avery, hi. I completely forgot you said you worked for the show."

"Ouch, I'll try not to take that too personally." She joked. Rachel looked around, making sure no one was listening to their conversation, and leaned in to whisper.

"Listen, no one knows the blonde girl is Quinn. I would like to keep it that way, okay?" Avery pretended to zip her lips and throw a key over her shoulder. She'd obviously had a little more to drink than Rachel herself had had.

"Your secret's safe with me, doll." Rachel could only hope she meant that. If everyone else found out Quinn was the unidentified blonde, chaos was sure to ensure. Either, or both of them, could lose their job. Not to mention, that would make their secret relationship a lot less possible.

Quinn got into the car with the other two writers once they had exited the airport. Just a couple more hours, and she would be face to face with Rachel again. Question was, what was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to act? Like a stranger or an old acquantice? She had no idea how she was supposed to play this, and there were still no clues from Rachel.

**Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update and this is such a short chapter. I've had A LOT going on. I'll try to get updates out sooner from now on, but chapters are likely to be shorter than a lot of Until Now's. I hope you guys enjoy this first little tidbit of the story. More to come. As always, thank you, and don't forget to smile.**


	2. Chapter 2

Quinn looked in the mirror of her hotel bathroom one last time. She had decided on a pair of tight jeans and a fitted black blouse with lace sleeves. She took her time in doing her makeup and curled her hair. She wanted to look nice, both to meet everyone else from the show and to see Rachel, but not too formal to seem uptight. Giving herself one more onceover, she decided she was finished, and exited the bathroom, grabbing her purse on the table by the door and leaving the hotel room.

In the elevator, she pulled out her phone and sent Rachel the first text she had since the "I love you" message. "So how are we going to play this?", she typed out, hesitated, and pressed send. This was something they needed to discuss before being introduced to one another by the show's producers. Was she supposed to act like the woman she loved was a complete stranger? Or an old acquaintance from high school? Or the best friend she had been before they had transitioned to girlfriends?

Another question that had been bothering her relentlessly ever since it popped into her head on the plane ride to New York: would Rachel still be wearing her ring? If she wasn't, Quinn would know it was over, that whatever had happened with Rachel's manager had made her decide to end everything between them. If that were the case, Quinn didn't know how she was going to be able to work so closely with Rachel. If the ring was still on her finger, however, maybe there was still hope. If Rachel hadn't removed the ring, it meant the promise between them still existed, and Quinn would do whatever she had to to make sure they kept that promise to one another.

The elevator doors opened and she saw the other writers that had flown in with her waiting in the lobby for her, Josia and Marilyn. Josia was a middle aged, heavy weight balding man. While Marilyn couldn't be much older than Quinn herself. She was tall and slender with flowing dark hair and had worn dark clothes every time Quinn had seen her. They were both nice enough. She almost felt bad for not being friendlier with them, but she was distracted by the possibility of heartache.

"Did I keep you guys waiting long?" She asked politely.

"Not me, I just got down here myself." Marilyn answered.

"I've been waiting a while, but I don't mind when it's for two beautiful ladies like yourselves." Josia said making the two girls share an eye roll and a laugh. You laugh, but I get to show up to this hoity torty bar to meet this fancy new star with two beautiful women on my arm." Quinn's smile faded.

"Let's just get this over with." She said, walking towards the exit.

"You don t seem very excited for someone who just landed their first major gig." Marilyn observed.

"I'm just not good at meeting new people." She lied.

"Oh, you ll be fine. Besides, at least you already have us. I know we ve only known you for a few hours, but you won t be completely alone." Marilyn stated, catching up to her.

"I guess that s true. Thanks. Honestly, this provided her little comfort, but they didn t need to know that."

Rachel was pacing back and forth inside the bar s ladies room. Quinn should be arriving any moment now. She reread the message she had received from the blonde just a few minutes before. What was the plan? Rachel still didn t know. What she did know, was that she didn t want to discuss it through texts. No, this was a conversation they needed to have face to face. So Rachel dropped her phone into her clutch, and continued her pacing.

You can do this, Rachel. Just tell her everything Lonny said to you. Tell her that a public relationship like this so early in your career could very likely end your career. Give it some time. Eventually I ll be able to come out publicly. Until then, we can carefully continue to be together, in secret. Wasn t that better than not being together at all? Yes. Yes, it definitely would be. But will Quinn see it that way, too? She just finally accepted her sexuality. How is it fair to basically shove her right back into the closet? You aren t helping yourself, Rachel. I m trying to give a pep talk here. You can do this. You both can do this. You ve come this far. This is just another speed bump along the road, another hump to get over and you will get over it. You both will. If there is anything you know other than your absolute star potential, it is that you are meant to be with Quinn Fabray. Rachel s inner monologue ranted on and on.

Quinn walked into the bar with Josia and Marilyn right behind her. She immediately started scanning through the smoky, crowded bar for any sight of Rachel. She saw none.

"Hey Rick is over there. He s the main producer. I see him. Come on." Josia said.

"Uhm, I ll be over there in just a minute, okay? I need to use the girl s room."

"Someone's nervous." She heard him say to Marilyn as she walked away looking for the bathroom. He was right. She was nervous. So much so that she could feel her clammy hands shaking, but not for the reasons he thought.

She found a red door with Gals painted in black across it in the back of the shadowed bar. She still hadn t seen Rachel. Was she not there yet? Oh God, what if she didn t come? What if that was how much she was avoiding Quinn now? That she would even miss her own meet and greet She pushed through the bathroom door very near to hyperventilation, and with her head down. Before she even got fully through the door, she was grabbed and pulled inside a stall. Quinn looked up as Rachel thrust the stall door closed and shoved her back against it.

"Rachel, what the..." Before she could finish her question, she was interrupted by Rachel s lips on hers. At first, mostly out of confusion, Quinn didn t kiss her back. Within the first couple of seconds, though, all thoughts except for Rachel s lips on hers fled her mind, and she was kissing her back. She raised her arms to wrap them around the shorter girl s back and pull her closer, flush into her body. Their lips moved together fluidly, passionately for what felt like several minutes, before Rachel had to pull away to catch her breath, surprised at the intensity of the kiss she had started. She kissed Quinn desperately, all her fears rolling to the surface and escaping through her lips. Quinn kissed her back like she had thought she would never get to kiss her again. It stole away Rachel s breathe and made Quinn s heart pound through her chest, even after their lips had parted.

"Please don t break up with me." Rachel pleaded, barely above a whisper. She hadn t meant to let the words slip out, but they did of their own accord.

"What? I thought you were breaking up with me."

"Oh gosh, no. I m sorry for ignoring you. I m just so afraid that once I tell you what I have to tell you, you won t want this anymore and I had to kiss you at least one more time before..." Rachel's words drifted off and she buried her face in Quinn s chest.

"Hey, talk to me. I m not going anywhere." She kissed brown locks as she squeezed Rachel impossibly closer to her. "Tell me what s going on." Rachel didn t move her head from Quinn s chest, instead only turning slightly so Quinn could understand her.

"We have to stay a secret. At least for a while." Rachel sounded so defeated as she said it, like she knew that this was going to kill their relationship.

"Honestly, I kind of expected that."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. So much is going on right now, with both of us just getting these big jobs, which just so happens to be working together. All the blowout from the tabloid articles, too, I expected that Lonny would tell you to break up with me. Or the unidentified blonde, rather."

"He did." Rachel affirmed.

"But you aren't, right? We're just going to be more careful?"

"Like super careful. At least until my career can stand on its own. I don t know when that's going to be, though."

"That's okay, cause I still have you. As long as we have each other, I'm not too worried about anything else. We can do this." Quinn wasn t sure where the sudden burst of confidence had come from, but she was thankful for it. Clearly, it was what Rachel needed right now. Just minutes ago, she had been angry and hurt at Rachel s avoidance the last few days. Now, she mostly just felt bad for her. She had been just as scared as she had been; petrified one was going to leave the other. When really they both still wanted the other. Quinn shook her head at the ironic stupidity of the situation, both of them so afraid for nothing.

"There's more." Rachel spoke, still sounding afraid.

"Whatever it is, we'll deal with it."

"Lonny made me go on a fake date with the actor who is going to be playing my love interest in the show, James. He held my hand for the cameras, but that's all that happened, I swear. He wants us to go on more dates for publicity, too." Rachel was looking up at Quinn now, trying to judge her reaction. Which, by her silence, the red tint her face suddenly had, and the loosening grip around her back, Rachel could tell wasn t good. "I'm so sorry, Quinn. Lonny said I had to to help repair my image."

"You should have told me, before now I mean before it happened. You should have told me."

"I know, I know. You're right. I went about this all wrong. I see that now. I was just so afraid of losing you."

"We should probably get back out there and get this over with." Quinn suggested, removing her arms fully from around Rachel's back and turning to open the stall door.

"Are we okay? Rachel asked as Quinn walked over and braced herself against one of the white porcelain sinks, staring down into it as she answered.

"We will be. We have to be completely honest with one another from now on, though. No more surprises."

"No more surprises, I promise." Rachel vowed, staring at the blonde's reflection in the mirror from behind her.

"How are we doing this? Are we complete strangers? Acquaintances that used to go to high school together? What?"

"Anyone that did a little digging could figure out that we went to high school together, so we shouldn t lie about that. No one would know anything about our friendship since, though. So I was thinking we feign shock at seeing one another for the first time since high school?"

"You lead, I'll follow." Quinn submitted, still not looking up. "You should probably go out first. I ll count to fifty and then I'll go find Rick so we can start all this. We're lucky someone hasn t come in here and caught us already." Rachel knew it was true, but she couldn t help herself. She took the few steps separating them, leaned over to kiss a pale cheek, and whispered into her ear.

"I love you, Quinn."

"I love you, Rachel." As she said it, she looked up, but Rachel was already exiting back through the bathroom door.

**Author's Note: Sorry for any mistakes. I'm posting from my phone right now and it's a bitch. Still working out some kinks. Be patient with me and I'll be back to normal soon. **

**I**

**Just a reminder that no one is making you read my story. You do have a choice. So if you don't like it, don't read it. **

**That simple. **

**Thanks everyone. Don't forget to smile! :)**


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